NAPTIP uncovers a child trafficking syndicate in Benue and Abuja, rescuing 26 children while tracing 274 others sold for up to ₦3m each

NAPTIP uncovers child trafficking syndicate operating between Benue State and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, in what officials have described as one of the most disturbing illegal adoption rings in recent memory.

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The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) announced on Sunday that it rescued 26 trafficked children, while 274 others remain unaccounted for as investigations continue to unravel the network’s full operations.

According to the agency’s spokesperson, Vincent Adekoye, the syndicate had sold more than 300 children across several states for between ₦1 million and ₦3 million per child, using a deceptive front called the “Back to School Project.”

He revealed that the operation spanned multiple states — including Benue, Nasarawa, Lagos, and Enugu — and led to the arrest of a 60-year-old orphanage owner who also serves as the founder of a well-known non-governmental organisation.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects feasted on the vulnerability of rural communities in Benue through a fraudulent initiative to recruit children for supposed educational sponsorship,” Adekoye said.

The group, posing as a humanitarian initiative, allegedly deceived parents in crisis-hit areas such as Daudu, Yelwata, and Ngban in Guma Local Government Area, convincing them to hand over their children under the pretext of education.

Children, aged between one and thirteen years, were later transported to orphanages in Abuja and Nasarawa, where they were illegally sold to couples under the guise of adoption.

NAPTIP said the suspects went as far as altering the children’s identities, issuing false birth records and new names to conceal their tracks.

Four orphanages linked to the network — located in Abuja’s Kubwa Expressway, Masaka, and Mararaba — have since been sealed off pending investigation.

The case reportedly came to light after a father petitioned NAPTIP, claiming that his four-year-old son had been handed over to an NGO without his consent and was told he could only see the boy again after three years.

The petition triggered a wider probe that uncovered the syndicate’s sprawling operations.

“One complainant alleged that he paid ₦2.8 million as an adoption fee and ₦100,000 as a consultancy fee to a member of the syndicate,” Adekoye added.

NAPTIP’s Director-General, Binta Bello, condemned the criminal enterprise as “unbelievable and mind-bugling”, describing it as a national crisis that demands urgent government action.

“Our children are not commodities to be displayed in orphanages and sold to the highest bidders. This must stop,” Bello declared.

She warned that those already in custody would face the full wrath of the law, adding that the agency remains committed to rooting out fraudulent adoption networks nationwide.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) lists Nigeria among the top five source countries in Africa for trafficked children, with thousands exploited annually for forced labour, domestic servitude, and illegal adoption.

A 2023 joint report by UNICEF and NAPTIP estimated that fake orphanages account for a growing share of trafficking cases, often enabled by corrupt officials who falsify adoption documents.

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As investigations deepen, NAPTIP has called on state governments to strengthen oversight of orphanages and faith-based childcare centres, warning that child trafficking has evolved into a national emergency demanding urgent collective action.